Ancient Jewish Cemetery Discovered Under Highway

The Jerusalem Municipality closed down part of one lane on the Jerusalem-Jericho highway today after the discovery of an ancient Jewish cemetery near the cemetery on the Mt. of Olives. The lane was closed to protect workers employed by the Religious Affairs Ministry who are digging on the site to uncover additional graves.

Mayor Teddy Kollek said the excavators didn’t have a proper license and complained that their digging was interfering with traffic along the road. But he agreed to shut down the lane after he was requested by Mordechai Surkiss, chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee to permit further work on the site.